Emerging technologies such as the Internet and biotechnology have the potential to create new industries and transform existing ones. Incumbent firms, despite their superior resources, often lose out to smaller rivals in developing emerging technologies. Why do these incumbents have so much difficulty with disruptive technologies? How can they anticipate and overcome their handicaps?

Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies presents insights, tools, and frameworks from leading busi-ness thinkers based on the research of Wharton's Emerging Technologies Management Research Program. This pioneering industry-academic partnership, established in 1994, is one of the longest and broadest initiatives on the management of emerging technologies. For the first time, this book distills the insights from the program into a single volume for managers, covering a wide range of issues related to the successful management of emerging technologies.

The editors contend that managing emerging technologies represents a "different game," requiring a different set of management skills, frameworks, and strategies than those used by established firms to manage existing technologies. In this book, experts from diverse fields examine key issues such as: Common pitfalls and potential solutions for incumbent firms in managing emerging technologiesStrategies for assessing the potential of new markets and designing technologies to take advantage of market "lumpiness"The need for scenario planning and "disciplined imagination" to develop strategies under uncertaintyThe limits of patents in protecting gains from technology, and the use of lead time and other strategiesThe power of innovative financial strategies and the use of real options in making investmentsUsing alliances and new organizational formsDeveloping a "customized workplace""Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies" represents a powerful survival kit for managers "dropped behind the lines" of these new technologies. The authors provide a comprehensive set of tools and insights that will help you understand the new challenges and develop effective strategies to succeed at this different game.

Praise for WHARTON on MANAGING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

"New technologies are transforming markets, businesses, and society at an ever-increasing rate. We have a critical need for better road maps for managing our way through this new terrain. This book offers critical insights and useful new models for thinking through these challenges."
--Professor Thomas Gerrity, Director of the Wharton e-Commerce Forum

""Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies" covers the emerging technology landscape-from strategy to finance to human resources-in a way that only a group of top scholars from many disciplines could do. Insightful, accessible, and smart ideas that make for 'must reading' for thoughtful executives in today's turbulent economy. The authors prove, once again, the power of research to yield deep insight into tough business problems."
--Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Professor of Strategy and Organization, Stanford University and coauthor, "Competing on the Edge: Strategy As Structured Chaos"

"Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies offers valuable insight for large established companies seeking growth in a dynamic market of rapid technological advancement. The entertaining cases and thoughtful analyses help managers create strategies, select options, and organize to successfully manage the interface between imagination and knowledge."
--Jerry Karabelas, PhD, CEO, Novartis Pharma AG

As the phenomenon of globalization continues to spark dynamic and controversial debates, managerial agendas around the world are being shaped. Businesses are pressed to respond to the challenges of globalizing competitors. They must enhance profits and generate returns for investors and do so by entering global markets, competing against international rivals, and finding opportunities in a continuously transforming world. Companies are expected to achieve these goals in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Extraordinary opportunities exist for those who can effectively answer the need to globalize, yet it is a complex enterprise with many associated risks. Renowned experts for the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance, Hubert Gatignon and John Kimberly, have collaborated to edit a non-partisan and comprehensive book that looks beyond the broad issues and focuses on the managers' response to the opportunities and challenges of larger, global markets. Relevant and timely as the outspoken debates about globalization continue, the contributors to this volume discuss crucial implications for managers, policy makers and non-governmental organizations.

Successful management buyouts (MBOs) are the pinnacle of business success today and a great way to earn an ever-increasing stake in the American dream.

Buyout provides managers and executives with the necessary tools and strategies for leading a company or division buyout. It explores the details of the entire buyout process and empowers managers to seize their destiny and take charge. Managers learn how to:

* Find a company to purchase

* Develop a business plan

* Negotiate with the seller

* Win the ""ground war"" of due diligence

* Find equity partners and negotiate the management deal with investors

* Run the company after the MBO.

"Buyout" offers real-life stories of people who actually pulled off out-of-this-world deals and became rich beyond their wildest expectations.